Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas

by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, John Donne, and C. S. Lewis

This collection, born of obvious passion and graced with superb writing, is a welcome even necessary addition to the glutted holiday bookshelves. -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Though Christians the world over make yearly preparations for Lent, there's a conspicuous lack of good books for that other great spiritual season: Advent. All the same, this four-week period leading up to Christmas is making a comeback as growing numbers reject shopping-mall frenzy and examine the deeper meaning of the season.

Ecumenical in scope, these fifty devotions invite the reader to contemplate the great themes of Christmas and the significance that the coming of Jesus has for each of us - not only during Advent, but every day. Whether dipped into at leisure or used on a daily basis, Watch for the Light gives the phrase "holiday preparations" new depth and meaning.

Includes contributions by these and other writers:

• C. S. Lewis, Madeleine L'Engle, Thomas Merton, and Philip Yancey
• Dorothy Day, Henri Nouwen, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Oscar Romero, and Edith Stein
• Martin Luther, Meister Eckhart, Eberhard Arnold, and Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt
• T. S. Eliot, John Donne, and Sylvia Plath
• Karl Barth, Will Willimon, Jurgen Moltmann, and J. B. Phillips
• Kathleen Norris, Brennan Manning, and Evelyn Underhill
• Annie Dillard, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Gerard Manley Hopkins
• Romano Guardini, St. John Chrysostom, and Giovanni Papini
• Jane Kenyon, Friedrich Wilhelm Foerster, Isaac Penington, and Alfred Delp

• ISBN13: 9780874869170
• Publish Date: 22 September 2014 (first published 9 September 2004)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 25 October 2009
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Plough Publishing House
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 344
• Language: English

Reviews

[wcs53]

This is a great little book of readings for Advent and Christmas that I come back to every few years. I like the variety of writers and the thoughtfulness that seems to have gone into the selections. What makes it even more enjoyable is that it contains writings from quite a few of my favourite writers, such as CS Lewis, Henri Nouwen, Philip Yancey, and Annie Dillard, among others. If you're looking for something different, with more depth and variety, when Advent comes around again, then I'd highly recommend this one.